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White House faces key test on Libya crisis

Barack Obama hasn’t spoken publicly about the civil strife in Libya since last week. | Reuters

“The president has been a day late and a dollar short on every aspect of the Arab Spring, and it’s very hard to come back from that,” said Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute. “He has let down people in the region who looked to the United States for moral support, and, for those of us in this country who believe that America should be playing a leadership role in the world, he’s missed repeated opportunities to stand up and be counted.”

But while conservatives back the administration’s move of naval vessels toward the Libyan coast as well as the no-fly zone, few are calling for more than that — and voices on both the right and the left are warning against any American military commitment.

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“I would love to give arms to opposition forces, but I don’t know who they are, and I don’t know what they believe in,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “One thing I’ve learned from Afghanistan and Iraq is that you need to know who you’re dealing with. There are 30 different tribes in Libya.”

Jim Phillips, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, even warned against trying to enforce a no-fly zone.

“It’s a slippery slope. What happens if we do the no-fly zone , and there’s a stalemate on the ground?” he askd. “It would be a huge mistake to send in U.S. ground troops.”

To the administration’s defenders, Obama’s careful words, patience and work to rally allies amount to exactly what he promised.

“This is what leadership looks like,” said Heather Hurlburt, executive director of the National Security Network, a Democratic group. “Leadership is getting the Chinese and Russians to vote ‘yes’ on a Security Council resolution that fast.”

“It’s a situation where leadership can’t be unilateral because there’s nothing we can do unilaterally,” she said.

The administration, Hurlburt said, is hoping that a united international front and the mere threat of a no-fly zone will send the signal to Qadhafi that he has run out of options and his best bet is flight to Venezuela or another of his few allies. The U.S. and other Western states hope that they will be seen clearly enough as on the winning side to allow the European Union or the U.N. a voice in managing a transition and some leverage with the new regime, without project an illusion of control, a scenario similar to what they hope for in Egypt and Tunisia.

But to some observers, the administration’s attempt to work multilaterally while projecting leadership was almost comical.

“It is interesting for a foreigner to see how outraged people are here that the United States government could even give the impression that others, even when they are allies, could be ahead of the curve on dealing with any crisis,” said one European diplomat in Washington. “That creates a political need for the administration to show that it is leading the movement, rather than participating in a collective effort.

“That doesn’t change the substance of the issue or the fact that during the last few days, a high level of coordination was displayed between Americans and Europeans,” the diplomat said. “It is really more a question of optics.”

But the pressure on Obama to appear to be the leader doesn’t come just from his righ, or even from the more general demand that an American president lead. Obama’s broader, personal promise of transformation has, at times, appeared to be in tension with his hands-off approach to the changes sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.

“This is being driven by events beyond our control, and that’s appropriate,” said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official. “Obama’s problem is that when you fashion yourself a transformative character, you feel compelled to be out there responding to transformational events, and this is one of them.”

“If you follow, as we follow, all of the websites that are looking at what’s happening in the Middle East, you see a constant drumbeat that ‘the United States is going to invade Libya to take over the oil

This is foreign policy by following the websites? Is Hillary for real?

Obama calls upon Germany and France to react because America doesn't want to be known for getting oil in Libya? meanwhile gas is hiking up at 4$ and crude at 100$.

And our government stands around because we don't want to be known for wanting oil? Ridiculous. We have an administration that is clueless as to what the American people want, much less as to making the USA a diminished force in the middle east.

And we don't drill anymore here, so,,,,,well let's just rely on our -40% down energy production here in the states and hope we can make it for the next 20 years relying on Saudi oil at inflated prices. ridiculous.

It won't be long before the libs show up and start defending Obama by claiming he dithered on the Libya situation because he was waiting for the American to get out. Funny, Obama didn't have the same consideration for the Americans that were in Egypt so his latest excuse rings hollow. It is really pathetic that Obama didn't follow the lead of other countries by immediately sending in ships capable of handling rough seas to evacuate the people. Instead Obama rented a ferry that couldn't sail the waters for several days because it was too choppy.

Here we go again, another “no-fly” zone. Obviously the Israel Lobby neocons have an insatiable appetite for involving the US in wars against Muslim countries. As reported by Robert Fisk in his book The Great War for Civilisation, our “no-fly” zones in Iraq in the 90's had no UN legitimacy, were never discussed or approved by the UN, but were actually an excuse for continuing our air war against Iraq, a war ignored by the press. Our country is just about bankrupt due to involvement in all these unnecessary neocon wars which serve to increase anti-American hatred and terrorism. We pretend to install democratic regimes but instead we bring corruption, civil wars, and chaos with an epidemic of suicide bombs. For this noble purpose, our states can’t pay firefighters and our fed can’t rebuild our falling-down bridges or replace our old gas pipes which keep blowing up. Our tax dollars instead go towards bombing, rebuilding, and re-bombing Muslim countries because that’s what the Israel Lobby wants. all

It won't be long before the libs show up and start defending Obama by claiming he dithered on the Libya situation because he was waiting for the American to get out. Funny, Obama didn't have the same consideration for the Americans that were in Egypt so his latest excuse rings hollow. It is really pathetic that Obama didn't follow the lead of other countries by immediately sending in ships capable of handling rough seas to evacuate the people. Instead Obama rented a ferry that couldn't sail the waters for several days because it was too choppy.

Interesting, isn't it, that the New York Times still hasn't seen fit to inform it's readers that CBS's top Foreign Correspondent, Lara Logan, was gang-raped by 200 'peaceful protesters' in the middle of Tahrir Square on the day Murbarak stepped down.

All the news that fit to print.....unless it doesn't fit their Liberal narrative.

Example:

The 'Gray Lady' also failed make mention of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders' return from exile in Qatar, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi.....

Two important things happened during Qaradawi's appearance in Cairo.

First, his handlers refused to allow Google's Egyptian Internet revolutionary Wael Ghonim to join the cleric on the dais.

For anyone willing to notice, Qaradawi's message in spurning Ghonim was indisputable.

As far as the jihadists are concerned, Ghonim and his fellow Internet activists are the present day equivalent of Lenin's useful idiots.

They did their job of convincing credulous Western liberals that the overthrow of Mubarak was all about sweetness and light.

And now they are no longer needed.

The second message was Qaradawi's call to destroy Israel.

With millions of adoring fans crying out "Amen," and "Allahu Akhbar," Qaradawi called for a Muslim conquest of Jerusalem - that is, for the destruction of Israel.

As a first step, he demanded that the Egyptian military open the Egyptian border with Gaza.

And all the while this administation twiddles it's thumbs......

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious.

But it cannot survive treason from within.

An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.

But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men.

He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist.

Paul Wolfowitz should be behind bars with all the other Israel Lobby neocons who lied us into the unnecessary Iraq War on behalf of Israel. These warmongers promised we would be greeted with flowers as liberators in Iraq and that Iraqi oil would pay the war costs. Yet the long-term cost of the war has been estimated by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, to be $3 trillion, all borrowed, largely from foreigners such as China.Long-term war costs include paying interest on this debt, long-term health care forwounded vets, increased costs of military recruitment, replacing damaged and destroyed equipment, etc. This is why the real figure is much higher than the publicized one. Due to our massive budget deficit, we are currently witnessing the tragic spectacle of protesters in Wisconsin and elsewhere. And where's the oil bonanza? The Chinese and others got most of the oil contracts and meanwhile al Qaeda, which wasn't there before Wolfowitz's invasion, is blowing up the oil refineries.

Oh yes, let’s heed the advice of Israel Lobby pro-torture warmonger Daniele Pletka, a big fan of Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi exile whose group helped lie us into the unnecessary Iraq War. Chalabi was a great favorite of the Israel Lobby since he promised to love Israel and send it Iraqi oil once he’d taken power in Iraq. No wonder AIPAC lobbied in favor of the disastrous Iraq invasion which has helped bankrupt our country. Let’s hope the Wisconsin protests don’t turn into riots. Greece here we come. all

There is nothing Obama could do to make the war hawks happy. He is working with our allies to resolve the situation, something the hawks have little patience for. There is no reason for him to be out there making inflammatory speeches.

We are overextended and have no money left to do anything. We are still working through the ill-concieved wars of Iraq and Afganistan and figuring out how to pay for them. It would be foolish for Obama to commit any significant resources for this mess. Europe is the primary consumer of Libyian oil. This is their fight.

Frankly, I would rather pay more at the pump than have one American killed over this.

"Obama hasn’t spoken publicly about the civil strife in Libya since last week, but according to the White House, he has been working the phones ...."

"Since last week",...... "SINCE LAST WEEK.....? RU $#![[in' in' us...? You make it sound like the guy is burnin' up the teleprompters...... He mentioned Lybia on day 9 after sticking his finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing.

His muslim Bruthas are getting slaughtered in the street and and The PoLIBico says: , "White House faces key test on Libya crisis"... The guy is running out of laws he will NOT defend, to distract The PoLIBico from boy blunder's failure to lead.

In Libya, we are dealing with a leader who has been described, across the board, as deranged. There have been recent reports that he personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing. Antagonizing someone like him is pointless and counterproductive. The middle east and northern Africa are already tired of the US meddling in their domestic affairs. That is the source of the antipathy towards the US. Not to mention our unshakable bond with their biggest enemy, Israel. What good would it do to act unilaterally when it will be to no avail! They didn't listen to Bush, who made almost daily calls for democracy in the region. Why would they start, all of a sudden, caring about the concerns of US leadership. Get out of that mindset that the only way to deal with enemies is to blow their countries to smitherines. Pres. Obama and Secretary Clinton, along with Susan Rice are doing the right things by trying to seek consensus around the globe on a way forward in Libya.

Any military action would undoubtedly disrupt our European allies' main oil supply. That, too, has to be considered.

Well finally it comes out. Obama is weighing its options. Put into English--I don't know what to do. Anyone get it? Obama has waffled on every foreign policy. Let me tell you the real laugh. On TV was a Pacifist yesterday and said we should go into Libya selectively to protect the people. Hello? A pacifist saying only a little bit help? Can you say Iraq, Bosnia, Afgan, Vietnam, etc. Hypocrisy on the part of the Pacifist. Kill the enemy but save the people? Here is a bit of History for you. When we get in and get out, will be the same, have done the killing for the Europeans next door (Oops saved money on their defense so we can go broke doing it for them) and in the end all everyone wants is Oil, Oil, Oil. Get real, all this is about Oil. Not the Democracy and social order bit. Oil. I guarantee you if there was no oil in Libya, Iraq, Iran, etc, we would not lift a finger--ever. Last when this is all over there will be a Muslim State there not a Democracy. Obama had hurt the US by not protecting our energy supply. Stopped all oil drilling (Nice play green) cut off any nuclear plants, not allow upgrade coal plants (50%) electricity, and has not planned for any emergency. Recession? Obama policy has created this cutoff problem and now only we have is Wind and Solar. First rule as President is to Protect the US--Obama has not in my opinion.

Pretty basic. Bambi is voting present. Again. When you have no leadership skills, no ability beyond tingling the legs of in the tank media lefties, and no guts, this is what you do. I will grant BO this: he is very, very, good at it.

"Since last week",...... "SINCE LAST WEEK.....? RU $#![[in' in' us...? You make it sound like the guy is burnin' up the teleprompters...... He mentioned Lybia on day 9 after sticking his finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing.

Bob Dylan was wrong, so many years ago. Turns out. Our President does "need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

How can you say that we are overextended and have no money left to do anything. We had almost a trillion dollars for a non-job making stimulas that mainly benefitted unions. We had money for the Porkleous bill. We had money to bail out 2 american car companies while the while the 3rd US auto maker took care of their own problems without huge assistance from the government. We had money to take over the student loan program. We had billions to help bail out Freddie and Fannie. We have tens or hundreds of billions to support illegal immigrants while we do nothing to close our borders. We had billions to extend unemployment benefits. Wait...... you're correct..... we are overextended.

Cut the bumbling Boi some slack, His teleprompter hasn't pin-pointed Libyia on the map yet...and Rahm's gone. His only hope will be that somebody clinging and thumping at his next campaign speech will shout out its where abouts and clue him in.

One would have thought that when the trouble in Egypt and in othere dens of ineauity began that Obumbler would have had an inkling of an idea to shut down the Embassy's and ordered the American contingents out while there was still airport facilities to use. Our masterful bumbler was too busy sticking his nose into union affairs and lampasting the Gov of Wisconsin to pay any attention. He's now caught between a rock and a hard place...a place of his own choosing.

Not only do we not have ANY sort of foreign policy we are in a economical downward spiral from which we'll possibly never recover because of having NO energy policy other than..."Green."

It is mistakenly said that we invaded Iraq for oil, but it was the Israel Lobby neocons (who had been advocating military action for years) and not Big Oil, who fixed the intelligence to lie us into war with Iraq to benefit Israel. Big Oil has traditionally wanted good relations with oil-rich nations but against the advice of his Secretary of Defense (James Forrestal) and his Secretary of State (George Marshall), Truman started us on a disastrous pro-Israel anti-Arab course since he needed Jewish funding for his tough upcoming campaign against Dewey. As noted in Professor Geoffrey Wawro’s well-documented 2010 book Quicksand, the U.S. oil lobby criticized Truman’s support of Israel: “An Aramco executive warned, ‘The United States is jeopardizing the good will of 30,000,000 Arabs and 220,000,000 Muslims…’” Wawro writes that in the 70’s, “Exxon, Mobil and SoCal all took out newspaper ads urging the Nixon administration to improve its relations with the Arab states and avoid a too close alignment with Israel.” “One pundit compared Manhattan’s Avenue of the Americas to the River Jordan: it coursed between the pro-Arab offices of Aramco and Exxon and the pro-Israel studios of ABC, CBS, and NBC.” Tragically in 2003 we went into massive debt to pay for the unnecessary Iraq War, borrowing from China, who got Iraqi oil contracts without invading and alienating the Muslim/Arab world. Our invasion served to increase anti-American terrorism. Now the Israel Lobby neocons want military action in Libya.

The smartest Thing we in the US can do is learn mind our own damn business, and save our money.

It is simply not our place to decide who 'Wins or Loses' there or anywhere else. Let it play out, and then deal with who ever is running the show. Whoever it is will open the oil taps just as fast as they can, and Europe needs them to stay open...We all do really.